Regional co-operation in East-Central Europe in the Polish foreign policy

Abstract

With the changes in international order, the role of regional co-operation
in East-Central Europe in the Polish foreign policy changed too. In the early
1990s, Poland was deeply involved in the development of new structures
such as the Central European Initiative, the Council of the Baltic Sea States,
and the Visegrad Triangle. The new organisations, to a great extend, were
treated instrumentally as a step on the way to rapprochement with the EU
and NATO. Poland did not promote its own concepts of developing a new
value in this part of Europe and did not aspire to play the role of a regional
power based on the new structures either. After the accession to the EU
in 2004, the attention of Polish diplomacy focused on the Visegrad Group

(V4), which was a key tool in the co-operation of the four countries – Poland,
the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary – in the field of their common
interests. However, due to big divergences, its role in the areas that are
strategic for the security of the region was of little importance. In essence,
the regional co-operation in the East-central Europe was important but from
the perspective of Warsaw, it was of secondary importance.